


Not Playing Games

by shopfront



Category: Underworld (Movies)
Genre: Alliances, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Michael, F/F, First Kiss, Flirting, Getting Together, Oblivious, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-27 01:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21384169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/pseuds/shopfront
Summary: Nearly six centuries had passed since that night, yet the ancient feud proved unwilling to follow Lucian to the grave. Though lycans were fewer in number, the war itself had become more perilous. Months before the next Awakening, I noticed the lycans beginning to gather for the first time in centuries. They are plotting something, but nobody will believe me. I face the coming onslaught alone. Or so I thought—
Relationships: Erika/Selene (Underworld)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35
Collections: Femslash Exchange 2019





	Not Playing Games

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tamoline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamoline/gifts).

"I need help," Selene said to her own reflection in the mirror.

A voice responding behind her made her stiffen, startled; unusual for Selene, the Death Dealer that few were able to sneak up on. "There's no point, you know," Erika said as she stepped forward just far enough to also be seen in the window's reflection.

Selene's gaze was drawn to the way the moon shone off the tumbling locks of her unbound hair. Erika cut a beautiful figure in the light, which only accentuated the black lace she was dressed in. But the tranquility of the picture she made was disrupted by the clear amusement on her face and the assessing directness of her stare.

"No point in what?"

Erika's smirk deepened as she stepped forward again, until she was close enough that she could have leant in and whispered her answer in Selene's ear if she'd wanted to. "In fighting Kraven right now, or expecting any of them to help you," she said, her voice as low and intimate as a whisper would have been. Just enough that Selene had to work hard to hear it, and to stop herself from leaning closer. "Nobody is powerful enough, or influential enough, to take on Kraven before the Awakening."

Selene watched as her own mouth twisted in frustration for a second before she pushed away from the glass and from Erika. She heard Erika huff as she passed by, a sound of poorly suppressed surprise that Erika didn't seem to have intended Selene to hear and was only barely audible—even to someone with Selene's highly trained senses. But Erika's smirk only changed into a fond smile as she turned to follow Selene's progress across the room.Selene tried to ignore her as she rummaged through her closet. Instead she focused on retrieving her favourite leather fighting jacket, and a spare set of guns that she was technically supposed to return to the armoury yet never did. But Erika's steady gaze still made the back of Selene's neck itch, even as she worked.

"Viktor could make him listen," she muttered without thinking when the constant observation became too much.

Erika's shocked inhale was clearly audible this time, with no attempt made to hide it. Pulled up short by the sound, Selene hesitated. Her hand hovered over the guns, and she was tempted to turn back and say something reassuring—sometimes she forgot what it must be like for the newest members of the coven, hearing stories of the Elders while rarely having the chance to meet them. Especially for one as young as Erika, for whom an Elder awake and visiting their coven was entirely the stuff of legend and only spoken about in awed or jaded whispers.

"I—," she started to say, feeling clumsy and unsure of herself for the first time in weeks. She'd be so focused; out from dusk till dawn, hunting. Always hunting. Then arguing half the day away with Kraven on her return. It seemed she'd forgotten social niceties in her quest to understand the lycan gatherings happening all over the city. "Erika, I didn't think, I—"

"Don't wake him," Erika said, interrupting her. When Selene just frowned in confusion, Erika darted across the room and took her by the arm. "Don't wake Viktor. I know you're tempted, you've been visiting the tomb every day now. But Amelia still won't arrive for months yet, Kraven can't be made to listen by anyone except her, and there's nothing to be gained by bringing the Awakening forward without permission. Only everything to lose."

Selene clenched her jaw and leaned in close, until they were almost nose to nose. "There is danger waiting for us out there and it won't disappear on its own. Would you have me allow the life of every person in this coven to remain at risk instead?" she asked, and she didn't bother to try holding back her anger and frustration.

Kraven had been dogging her steps for weeks now, insisting everything was fine and trying harder than ever to drag her kicking and screaming into coven politics if that's what it took to get her away from the Death Dealers. Ever since she'd first encountered a gathering of lycans that had promptly scattered into the sewers, leaving no proof of their unexpected numbers other than her recollection, suddenly her word wasn't enough. Not for anything that mattered.

But Erika didn't back away in the face of her anger. Instead, her eyes seemed to brighten and she tightened her grip as she pressed closer. "Wait," she insisted eagerly. "Wait until the Awakening is closer. Right now you only have rumours and suspicion, no evidence. No proof. And no urgency to justify any action you take against Kraven's orders."

"And how do I know you're not just saying that to secure your own advancement by aiding Kraven?" Selene asked with a skeptical tilt of her head.

Erika's lips quirked and she ducked her head, looking up through her eyelashes. "Do you really not know?"

"I don't like games," Selene snapped.

In the blink of an eye, Erika dropped her coy expression and looked straight at Selene. "It was always you," she said. When Selene's frown deepened, she licked her lips and forged on. "Kraven is a tool, in all senses of the word. But you— Right from the first time I awoke here after my transformation, all anybody has ever really spoken about is you. You and Kraven. You and Viktor. You and the Death Dealers. You and this new, renewed hunt for lycan packs that supposedly shouldn't exist. Always you. It didn't take me long to understand why."

Her eyes wandered down Selene's body as she spoke but her gaze flicked immediately back up when Selene shifted on the balls of her feet, surprised and suddenly a little restless.

"You've never liked accepting my help," Erika said with a wry expression when Selene still said nothing. She took a step back, her shoulders rounding in on themselves, but Selene narrowed her eyes and reached for her before she could go too far.

"You never gave your help freely."

Erika's mouth dropped open a little in surprise, and she didn't turn back but she also didn't try to pull away again. "Is that what you thought?" she asked in a wondering tone, her voice faint as if thinking aloud without realising.

A gentle tug was all it took for Selene to reel her back in. "Are you saying it was something more?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, but she could feel herself softening already. And when Erika only stared back at her in silence, Selene let herself sway a little closer—offering herself up like bait in a trap.

Erika's mouth on hers was both surprise and vindication, too fast for her to second guess her instincts and too hard and sharp for Selene to forget them. She could feel Erika's fangs pressing against her lips as she cupped Selene's jaw and deepened the kiss, hungry and intent in a way Selene wouldn't have predicted. There was nothing coy in Erika's kiss. Nothing cautious or manipulative, nor even the cheeriness so familiar from whenever she'd riffled through Selene's clothes or brought shiny toys to try and tempt her away from her work.

It was naked, predatory lust, and when they finally parted she nipped Selene's lip before retreating.

"Believe me now?" Erika asked as she raised her chin defiantly. But Selene only stroked her thumb down Erika's jaw thoughtfully, before she tugged Erika forward and kissed her again. Kissed her until she'd lost herself in the fight of it, and tumbled them both down onto her bed to distract Erika from the answer that Selene wasn't sure how to give. Not yet, anyhow.


End file.
